Truck Farm is a mobile garden education project founded in Brooklyn, NY. Director Ian Cheney's other projects include King Corn, The Greening of Southie, and The City Dark. Please join our e-mail list to help us make a difference!

News from Truck Farm

Our third annual Truck Farm Garden Contest delighted us with unexpected ways to plant seeds. We want to share a few of the highlights:

This year’s winner was 7-year-old Ava Appleton, shown below with her golden friend. Ava transformed a shopping cart into a mobile garden parked outside of her elementary school in Minnesota.

The shopping cart was planted with hay, and a garden in a cat litter pan was added to the lower level. Soon, others students at Ava’s school added a sled farm and a wagon farm to the tableau, and eventually Ava’s cart was joined by over 20 gardens planted in recycled containers. She started a movement!

For Mary Luongo in California, a tiny sunflower seed took root in a discarded wine crate. She plans to plant tomatoes next.

Below, high schooler Mykin Lopez planted these super cool “Garden-A-Gallons” for the Feast on the Street food festival in Phoenix, Arizona.

Eleven-year-old Julia Hogendorf in New York is growing her own colorful sprouts in a crayon box on her windowsill.

We invite folks of all ages to get planting for our 4th Annual Truck Farm Garden Contest. It’s easy! Just plant a seed in the most creative place you can think of (a shoe? a football helmet? surprise us!), snap a photo once your seed sprouts, and submit your entry to our special guest judges using this online submission form.

The deadline for submissions is June 1, so plant those seeds soon! We can’t wait to see what you grow.

Held every year on October 24, Food Day is a nationwide celebration and a movement for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. Check the Food Day website for info on programs and events near you, and consider gathering friends and neighbors for a Food Day screening and discussion of TRUCK FARM. Visit Bullfrog Films for info on hosting a screening.

Thanks to everyone who entered and helped spread the word about our third annual Truck Farm Garden Contest! Special thanks to our judges, Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle.

First place, with a gift certificate for the Seed Savers Exchange, goes to Karlie Cole of Minnesota. Karlie wrote, “Inspired by Truck Farm – but with no truck and no sun except on the driveway – my Prius became a greenhouse!” Check it out:

Second place, with a Truck Farm DVD and trucker hat, goes to Steve Madewell of Maryland. Steve created a vertical LEGO garden:

Steve wrote, “I’ve been experimenting with ways to encourage children and families to invent their own methods of growing fresh food at home, regardless of where home may be… It turns out LEGOs drain fairly well, are easy to reconfigure for plant growth, and most plants don’t seem to mind being grown in and around toys.”

Ian Cheney and the Brooklyn Truck Farm recently debuted some new sprouts and new (old) wheels with our first educational visit of 2012, at the Friedberg JCC. We miss the ’86 Dodge, but so far, so good, ’96 Tacoma!

A plexiglass panel is a great way to let kids check out the roots and soil.

TRUCK FARM rang in the new year with a January 6th screening at Sunset Beach Elementary on Oahu’s North Shore. The screening was presented by the Kokua Hawaii Foundation, local literacy mascot Rex the Surf Dog, and ‘AINA Kine Student Farmer’s Market, as part of a terrific event that included a visit by the Windward Nazarene Academy Truck Farm, kid-friendly gardening activities, tours of the Sunset Beach school garden, and a special performance by Truck Farm songwriter Simon Beins with local musician Jack Johnson. It was a blast! Heartfelt thanks to our hosts for organizing the event.

Last Sunday, the TRUCK FARM team, with our talented and dear friends Monica Byrne and Leisah Swenson of home/made in Brooklyn, hosted an end-of-summer harvest party to thank our local sponsors and supporters. Monica and Leisah provided delicious food and the perfect place for a festive gathering and outdoor screening. Before the film, Simon Beins performed a few songs that didn’t make it into TRUCK FARM, and a few that did.

Enormous thanks to our talented and generous hosts, Monica and Leisah, to the awesome staff at home/made, and to all of our TRUCK FARM supporters in NYC and beyond.

The truck farm parked at home/made in Red Hook for our end-of-summer harvest party